AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is speaking out for the first time publicly since his acquittal on corruption charges at his impeachment trial. Paxton’s making the rounds with conservative TV and radio hosts, blasting the Biden administration and attacking fellow Republicans who voted to impeach him.
In a nearly 50 minute interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Paxton did not discuss accusations he misused his office to protect a political donor. Instead, he criticized fellow conservatives, who he believes betrayed him and the party. He also laid into Texas’ senior U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, calling him a poor representative for Texans and saying that he might challenge him in 2026.
Cornyn has been one of Texas’ few top Republicans to express concerns publicly with Paxton’s legal troubles. When asked about a potential challenge from Paxton, Cornyn said he’s focused on trying to get President Joe Biden to “do his job.”
During his conservative interview blitz, Paxton also vowed to get involved in primary challenges to House Republicans who voted to impeach him.
“What they did was wrong. I will be on the campaign trail,” Paxton said Thursday on The Mark Davis Show. “I’ll be spending a lot of time in Beaumont. I’ll be spending a lot of time, I think it’s Kerrville where Murr is. I’ll be spending a lot of time in Collin County … Jeff Leach, get ready.”
Rep. Jeff Leach, who described Paxton as a friend and former mentor during the closing arguments of his impeachment trial, represents Collin County. Beaumont is House Speaker Dade Phelan’s district. Kerrville is Rep. Andrew Murr’s. All three Republicans supported Paxton’s impeachment.
Paxton is showing strength, but one political science professor suggests he might get weaker.
“He should not overestimate the new power that he has within the Republican Party, because while it may be present in the primary, it’s not going to be as visible in the general election, because a lot of Texans believed that he was guilty and should have been impeached and convicted,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.
Rep. Gary Gates, R-Richmond, voted for Paxton’s impeachment in the House. He says he’s not worried about the primary.
“If I messed up that bad then and I’m taken out, OK, well, my downside is I spend [time at] home, spend time with my grandkids, and go back to my business,” Rep. Gates said. "But I think these issues that I'm working on are very, very important, and that's why I'm very passionate to remain there.”
Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, who also voted to impeach Paxton, has a similar message.
In a statement to Spectrum News, he wrote, “There are parents and teachers counting on the State of Texas to get parental empowerment, school finance and teacher pay raises correct. That is the real work in front of us, and that is what I am focused on.”
Luke Macias with the pro-Paxton political action committee Defend Texas Liberty is part of the movement to remove those perceived as RINOs, or Republicans in name only, from the House.
“People who voted to un-elect the attorney general showed a tremendous amount of disrespect for the will of Republican voters,” Macias said. “So I think that general disrespect that is shown for the voters in their own districts will likely lead to them getting some pretty significant pushback from those same voters come re-election time.”
Two GOP state senators, Sen. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville and Sen. Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, broke with their party and voted to convict Paxton on most impeachment articles. Sen. Nichols said in a statement that he believed the witness’ testimony and evidence presented were “credible.”
Sen. Hancock said he “went where the evidence took” him.
“I suffered, as many know, with a kidney failure for 30 years, and not knowing whenever you’re going to wake up … It teaches you to live one day at a time,” Sen. Hancock said in an interview with Capital Tonight. “My focus [wasn’t] on the next election. My focus was really on the evidence, the facts, the testimony, and doing what I swore to do, [which] is to seek the truth and allow the verdict to be based on the facts that were laid out before me.”
He said at one point, senators were close to reaching the 21 votes needed to convict Paxton.
“Everyone had to come to their own determination,” Sen. Hancock said. “Each of us has to weigh the evidence that was brought before us and everything else that they bring into it, and determine. And I think, obviously, each one of them did that. It was a very important vote, and they voted the way they felt they needed to, which is exactly what I did.”
Gov. Greg Abbott says he’ll call lawmakers back to the Capitol in October to pass a school choice program. Like Paxton, Abbott has also threatened to support primary challengers against Republican representatives who don’t support his plan, which would allow parents to use public school dollars to send their child to private school.
In voting for Paxton’s impeachment in the House, Rep. Gates said he viewed it like a grand jury, which determines whether to bring charges against someone. Now that the trial in the Senate is over, Rep. Gates says he hopes to move on. He reached out to Paxton to meet so they can work together in the future.
“I sit on [the] appropriations [committee], and I believe in all the different matters that he's been pursuing with suing the Biden administration, trying to help close down the border, going after pharmaceuticals and tech companies,” he said. “And so I want to make sure that he has the resources, as a member of appropriations, that he can continue to get the funding that he needs so that he can continue doing a great job for Texas.”
Whether incumbent Republicans who voted to impeach Paxton are removed from office remains to be seen. A lot can happen between now and the March primary, especially with another special session on the horizon.